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A Century of White Sox Fashion Part 2, 1910-1924

I forgot to mention the changes to the 1909 White Sox home uniform. The “C” that dominated the front of the jersey was taken away and replaced with a very small patch version on the left sleeve. There was a very slight blue trim and a very nice pinstripe hat, but overall it was an all white affair (much like the game itself.) The away uniform through most of the teen decade remained constant, but the team decided to tinker with their home look. 1910 brought an alternate jersey to the home kit, with “SOX” in white blockish letters on a blue field down the placket of the shirt. The regular uniform became even plainer than its predecessor, replacing the sleeve “C” with a “C” on the cap. It was the most understated uniform in White Sox history. Perhaps that is why the vertical “SOX” became the standard for the 1911 season.

The 1912 edition introduced one of the most recognizable Sox logos throughout the team’s history a large S with the O and X within the curves of the S. The use of the serif really gives the logo a unique look and it is quite distinctive. A pretty good indication that the team got it right is how popular the logo remains with the fans. Throughout the summer this logo can be seen all over the park, especially the caps from the era. Looking at the renderings at the Uniform Database, it is hard to determine if the 1912 home look had pinstripes or not, but with the 1914 edition the stripes are quite clear.

Both home and away stayed pretty similar from 1914-1916, but a road alternate was introduced with heavy pinstripes on gray. In 1917, the second championship year, three of the four uniforms featured pinstripes. Again, a case of too much of a good thing; on the home whites, the navy pinstripes and pinstriped hat added just enough flair to the look to be eye catching, but not overdone. Overdone is the perfect term for the alternate road uniform, which is can best be described as the prison look. Basically, it looks like a reject from “Guys and Dolls.” Luckily, it only lasted a year. 1917 also brought about a special uniform for the World Series in support of the United States involvement in World War I. It featured a star-spangled “SOX” logo and red, white and blue trim on the socks and red and blue stripes on a white hat. As gaudy as that might sound, I think it looks pretty good. I enjoyed the revival of the uniform in the 2002 season. They added a “Sox” logo to the hat, but other than that it was pretty much a nice homage to the 1917 World Series Champs. The hat happened to be my first White Sox hat as well and I was well on my way to becoming a White Sox fan en toto.

A fun alternative

Interestingly, the White Sox decided to alter the uniform of the Series champions. The new look didn’t inspire a return to the Series. The colors remained the same, but the pinstripes were gone. Unfortunately, the team decided to alter the logo with miniature white socks floating in the blue S. They kind of look like little white worms crawling on the logo.

Perhaps they were promoting leeching?

Luckily they decided to change back to the pinstripes for one of the home uniforms and they lost the white slugs. All in all was a great look that is remembered for a lot of bad reasons. This of course is the uniform of the Black Sox. Interestingly even as all the shit went down, the team kept the same look. If ever there was a time to change, a trial, national disgrace and lifetime bans, seems like a good time to break with the past. Instead the White Sox went with the same look until 1924. Kind of like that look, the Sox remained stuck in 1919, without eight of their best players.

The Most Disgraced Uniform Ever?

Most Pictures courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Dressed to the Nines On-line Uniform exhibit.

One thought on “A Century of White Sox Fashion Part 2, 1910-1924”

I am reading Ring Lardner’s You Know Me Al (1916). I just read of protagonist Jack Keefe being issued his team uniform while in California for pre-season training & exhibitions. Any idea whether that would have been a home or road uniform?